Harrison, Elliott: Elliott Harrison

Having previously worked with Jospeh Lamm + Music Hypnotica, Elliott Harrison releases his first and eponymous solo album where this multi-instrumentalist, with a little help from some friends, handles most of what we hear. Pop, rock and indie are sited at Harrison’s website as the aimed intentions and that’s exactly what is revealed across this 12 track effort. However, for me, we aren’t long into this album before the main issues begin to quickly raise their heads. Produced by The Bombay Brothers and mixed by Jospeh Lamm, I simply find the sound of this album to be remarkably impenetrable - to the extent that it seems no matter what volume I hit play at, my first instinct is to turn it down.

It’s “Broken Ball� that opens proceedings, and from the off the choppy guitars and hissing hi-hat seem to be fighting for supremacy, but when the guitars really ramp up, the brass intervenes and the bass kicks in, I’m left with the feeling that someone closed their eyes and simply swished all of the constituent parts around with their hands and presented it how it settled. “Traveler� is even more afflicted, with its drum beat muffling everything else to the extent that it feels as though all of this was recorded in a badly mic’ed up room and captured live, until you realise that Elliott is credited with guitars, drums and bass… It leaves the results (intentionally?) messy and ramshackle, and from my viewpoint, almost unfinished in construction. And while those aural issues maybe aren’t quite so obvious elsewhere, across most of this album the improvement is slight.

With that in mind, I do quite like the gentle strum and hum of “Posey�, which reveals a lightness of touch that would have been aided by the snare drum not hurtling itself at you over the restrained guitars, while “Goodnight Julia� uses its lush Beatles inspirations well. However, in general, there’s little here that draws me back for more and when you add in my own personal issues with the way in which this album has been presented, it all, in truth, makes for a pretty tough listening experience and one I won’t be reattempting.

Track Listing
1. Broken Ball
2. Rev It Up And Pump It Out
3. John
4. Posey
5. Traveler
6. A Song For A Quiet Day
7. Bleed
8. Ambient Waves Of Grey
9. White Elephant
10. Goth
11. Goodnight Julia
12. Dawn (Somewhere Special)

Added: May 17th 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Elloitt Harrison online
Hits: 472
Language: english

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